eneral
Nathanael Greene of Revolutionary fame, and this lady invited him to
visit her plantation at Mulberry Grove, near Savannah. What happened
then is best told by Eli Whitney himself, in a letter to his father,
written at New Haven, after his return from the South some months later,
though the spelling master will probably send Whitney to the foot of the
class:

"New Haven, Sept. 11th, 1793.

"... I went from N. York with the family of the late Major General
Greene to Georgia. I went immediately with the family to their
Plantation about twelve miles from Savannah with an expectation of
spending four or five days and then proceed into Carolina to take the
school as I have mentioned in former letters. During this time I
heard much said of the extreme difficulty of ginning Cotton, that is,
separating it from its seeds. There were a number of very respectable
Gentlemen at Mrs. Greene's who all agreed that if a machine could be
invented which would clean the cotton with expedition, it would be a
great thing both to the Country and to the inventor. I involuntarily
happened to be thinking on the subject and struck out a plan of a
Machine in my mind, which I communicated to Miller (who is agent to
the Executors of Genl. Greene and resides in the family, a man of
respectability and property), he was pleased with the Plan and said if
I would pursue it and try an experiment to see if it would answer, he
would be at the whole expense, I should loose nothing but my time, and
if I succeeded we would share the profits. Previous to this I found I
was like to be disappointed in my school, that is, instead of a hundred,
I found I could get only fifty Guineas a year. I however held the
refusal of the school until I tried some experiments. In about ten Days
I made a little model, for which I was offered, if I would give up all
right and title to it, a Hundred Guineas. I concluded to relinquish
my school and turn my attention to perfecting the Machine. I made one
before I came away which required the labor of one man to turn it and
with which one man will clean ten times as much cotton as he can in any
other way before known and also cleanse it much better than in the usual
mode. This machine may be turned by water or with a horse, with the
greatest ease, and one man and a horse will do more than fifty men with
the old machines. It makes the labor fifty times less, without throwing
any class of People out of business.

"I returned to